Lemon Ricotta Cookies - The BEST Italian Cookie Recipe!
Lemon Ricotta Cookies are soft Italian cookies that have a tangy, lemony taste, and a light and airy texture thanks to using ricotta cheese in the dough. The lemon icing makes them extra special. They’re a great Italian Christmas cookie, but can be enjoyed any time of year!
Ingredients
For The Cookie Dough
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ cup 2% ricotta cheese
- zest of ½ lemon
- 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ tsp salt
For The Icing
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ -½ cup milk add a little at a time until icing reaches desired consistency.
Instructions
Make the dough.
- Cream the sugar and butter together until smooth. Then add the ricotta cheese, lemon zest, vanilla extract and eggs and beat until well blended.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the wet ingredients and beat until a shaggy dough forms and everything is well combined.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- When you’re ready to make your cookies, remove from the fridge and immediately form your dough balls. Form each cookie into a dough ball, about 1 ½ inches. The dough will be sticky so use a cookie dough scoop, or roll with slightly damp hands. (You’ll have to rinse repeatedly).
- Place dough balls on a cookie sheet aobut 2 inches apart. If you’re making the whole recipe, you’ll likely have at least 2 pans. Bake cookies for 7 minutes, then rotate the pans (moving the top to the bottom and the bottom pan to the top rack of your oven) and bake for an additional 7 minutes. Cookies will be done when they are a light golden brown on the bottom, and they spring back slightly when tapped.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool before icing.
Make The Icing
- Melt the 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave.
- Whisk in the powdered sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and a little bit of the milk. Add more milk until the icing becomes smooth and easy to spread onto the cookie. Allow the icing to harden, then serve or store (in an airtight container in the fridge, or in the freezer for up to two months.)
Notes
- Make the dough with room temperature ingredients for the best results.
- The chill time for these cookies is imperative, otherwise, it will be extremely difficult to form into balls and the cookies will spread too much when baking.
- This dough is STICKY and easiest to handle when it’s cold. Using a cookie scoop makes forming the dough balls a bit easier. Or you can slightly wet your hands and form the balls using your hands. You’ll just need to rinse them after every few cookies as the dough will begin to stick together, and to your hands.
- Allow enough room between the cookies on your baking sheet. They do spread a little, even when chilled. I typically only place about 12 cookies on a baking tray at a time.
- Chill dough between batches. If making the entire quantity, you’ll likely have about 4 pans of cookies. Be sure to chill the dough between batches to ensure it doesn’t get too warm. Otherwise, the cookies will spread - a lot. You may even want to form the cookie balls, place the cookie sheets in the refrigerator for 5 minutes, then put them immediately into the oven.
- Cool before icing. Allow the cookies to cool completely before icing them. If they aren’t completely cool, the cookies may be too fragile to spread the icing, and you may end up breaking/tearing the tops of them.
- When making your icing, add just a small amount of milk at a time until you get the desired consistency. Too much milk will make this icing runny, and more of a glaze vs. a proper icing.
- Allow the icing to set completely before storing the cookies.
- Store the cookies in an air-tight container, between layers of parchment paper, for a week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Nutrition
Calories: 168kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 3gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 97mgPotassium: 34mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 183IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 29mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!